The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year – a time that can often feel dark and dreary. Having nine hours less sunlight than on the longest day, it’s easy to understand why we can feel a little blue.
However, since the beginning of human civilization, people have marked this important astronomical event as a time of celebration – to welcome the return of the sun.
The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia celebrated the end of the planting season and slaves were given the day off and treated briefly as equals. The Persian festival Yalda is usually viewed as light’s triumph over dark, and families celebrate with special foods and stay up all night. The Hopi Indians in Northern Arizona use the time for cleansing rituals and gift-giving. In Peru (where the winter solstice takes place in June) everyone celebrates Inti Raymi to honour the Sun God. In Scandinavia, St Lucia’s Day is a festival of lights celebrated with dancing.
The common theme here is celebration, and welcoming the longer days ahead. The approach they all take is that the worst is over and now is the time to look forward; a glass-half-full approach. However, more recently Western societies have taken a more negative approach. We focus on how dark it is and how little light we have. If it weren’t for the festive season and the holiday everyone is about to embark on, it would certainly be the most depressing day for most of us.
So what about if we all took the ancient approach and used the time to cosy up and embrace the turn of the tides? What if we decided to celebrate and look forward… grateful for what’s to come?